Carl Edwards Fastest in Busch Series Testing

Carl Edwards may need to test his victory lane backflip in preparation for the May 26 CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Edwards, the defending winner of the CARQUEST Auto Parts 300, topped the speed chart Monday as 35 NASCAR Busch Series cars tested at the 1.5-mile superspeedway.

"Things are going a lot better than our Cup test, which is good," said Edwards, who has won two Busch Series races this season and has a 433 point lead in the series standings. "Our car was fast this morning. We're trying some stuff because you never how fast everybody will get. I definitely hope to extend our points lead here."

Driving the No. 60 Ford, Edwards posted the fastest lap of the day at 182.648 mph. Bobby Hamilton Jr. was second fastest in the No. 35 Ford with a lap at 181.074 mph with Reed Sorenson third at 180.947 mph in the No. 42 Dodge.

Aric Almirola and Scott Wimmer rounded out the top five on the final speed rundown.

"It's great working with Shane Wilson and all the guys, they've definitely got a great race car," said Wimmer, who was driving the No. 21 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. "The afternoon session went really well. We worked on some things because we knew that when night time comes the track is going to change quite a bit. We'll wait until it gets dark then we'll get really serious into race conditions."

David Ragan was originally scheduled to test his NEXTEL Cup car in Dover, Del., today, but that changed when the Darlington race was delayed and NASCAR postponed the Cup test. He ended up seventh fastest.

"We're just happy to be here," said the driver of the No. 6 Ford. "We were scheduled to be in Dover today and tomorrow for the Cup test, but the rain delay in Darlington gave us a break on the Busch side to get in some testing. We brought a couple of cars we ran earlier in the year that needed a little fine tuning. We've got good speed and we're feeling comfortable."

David Green, the 1994 NASCAR Busch Series champion, made his debut behind the wheel of the No. 91 Riley-D'Hondt Motorsports Toyota.

"We'll start up next week here in Charlotte," Green said. "My hope is that we'll run the rest of this year then compete for a championship in 2008."

1988 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion Bill Elliott was also back on track driving the No. 32 Toyota for Braun Racing.

"The Busch Series has always been a lot of fun and we've been trying to find the right circumstance," Elliott said. "Between Todd and all the guys over at Braun Racing, they've put me in a position to be able to come back and run here in Charlotte.

"We were trying to put something together prior to here, but it kind of made more sense to come back here. We focused on Charlotte because it gave us a test together and let us get up to speed a little bit. That was pretty important because it's been a while since I've been in a Busch car. This gave me a chance to get to work with these guys a little so I didn't just show up on race weekend and say, 'here we are, let's go race.'

"Our plan is to get through here and see how things go, but there are a lot of races throughout the year that I would like to run," Elliott added. "Hopefully we can continue to put more things together and make it a good deal for Braun and myself."

There were several caution flags during the testing session, including three for wrecks. Cale Gale hit the wall in the No. 33 Chevrolet, Bobby Santos crashed the No. 92 Toyota and Shane Huffman clobbered the SAFER barrier in the No. 88 Chevrolet. Each driver was evaluated and released from the Carolinas HealthCare Infield Care Center.

NASCAR Busch Series testing continues Tuesday with on-track sessions from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Lowe's Motor Speedway's frontstretch grandstand will be open free of charge and fans should enter through Gate 5A, located next to the main ticket office.

Tickets for all May events at Lowe's Motor Speedway, including the May 19 NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge and the May 27 Coca-Cola 600, are still available and can be purchased by calling 1-800-455-FANS or online at www.charlottemotorspeedway.com.